Tracing Your Ancestors Through Family Photographs

Jayne Shrimpton's complete guide to dating, analysing and understanding family photographs is essential reading and reference for anyone undertaking genealogical and local history research. Using over 150 old photographs as examples, she shows how such images can give a direct insight into the past and into the lives of the individuals who are portrayed in them. ??Almost every family and local historian works with photographs, but often the fascinating historical and personal information that can be gained from them is not fully understood. They are one of the most vivid and memorable ways into the past.??This concise but comprehensive guide describes the various types of photograph and explains how they can be dated. It analyses what the clothes and style of dress can tell us about the people in the photographs, their circumstances and background.??Sections look at photographs of special occasions – baptisms, weddings, funerals - and at photographs taken in wartime, on holiday and at work. There is advice on how to identify the individuals shown and how to find more family photographs through personal connections, archives and the internet - and how to preserve them for future generations.??Jayne Shrimpton's handbook is an authoritative, accessible guide to old photographs that no family or local historian can be without.??As featured in The Argus.

In this visually stunning book of historic family photographs, renowned family history researcher and photography expert Maureen A. Taylor shows you how to cherish old photographs and what clues they can provide to your ancestors' lives. You will learn how to: Identify and verify people in family photographs. Tell the story of identified photographs using the clues in the images. Locate additional family photographs. Create worksheets for each image to expand your knowledge about your ancestors. Discover the history of photography and learn when specific costumes, hairstyles, architecture, interior design trends, and more were popular. This improved revised edition, full of color photographs, is sure to be instructive and inviting to genealogists, scrapbookers, and history enthusiasts alike. Find out more about this fascinating medium and your ancestors' place in it today!

Everyone keeps old family photographs, whether in frames, albums or shoe boxes. These photos house a treasury of genealogical information, revealing unique details about our ancestors' lives, personalities and everyday realities. Following this guide's step-by-step instruction, anyone can learn how to identify different types of family photographs to determine their date, location, and in some instances, their photographer. Case studies of actual photographs illustrate how other details, such as poses, props, dress and setting can lead to several new genealogical discoveries. Even if a reader's collection of images is limited, this guide provides methods for locating additional photos through libraries, relatives and archives. Once these photos are collected and analyzed, readers will also learn how to preserve their family collection for generations to come.

Unlock the Secrets of Your Old Family Photos! Historical family photos are cherished heirlooms that offer a glimpse into the lives of our ancestors. But the images, and the stories behind them, often fade away as decades pass - the who, when, where and why behind the photos are lost. In this book, photo identification expert and genealogist Maureen A. Taylor shows you how to study the clues in your old family photos to put names to faces and recapture their lost stories. Inside, you'll learn how to: • Determine the type of image you have - from common paper prints to stereographs to historical daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes • Use clothing, accessories, and hairstyles to date the image in the correct decade • Research photographer's imprints to narrow down when and where the photo was taken • Compare facial features in multiple photos to confirm identity and family resemblance • Interview family members to gather more information about the image • Identify props in the photo to create context for the image Each chapter includes dozens of historical photos to illustrate key points and provide clear examples. Charts, timelines and resource lists make it easy to find the exact information you need. Dozens of case studies show you how to apply the techniques in the book to real-life photo research projects. The answers to your family photo questions are closer than you think. Let this book help you start finding them today.

An easy-to-use, straightforward guide for British family historians looking to trace their ancestry using DNA testing. DNA research is one of the most rapidly advancing areas in modern science, and the practical use of DNA testing in genealogy is one of its most exciting applications. Yet there is no recent British publication in this field. That is why this accessible, wide-ranging introduction is so valuable. It offers a clear, practical way into the subject, explaining the scientific discoveries and techniques and illustrating with case studies how it can be used by genealogists to gain an insight into their ancestry. The subject is complex and perhaps difficult for traditional genealogists to understand but, with the aid of this book, novices who are keen to take advantage of it will be able to interpret test results and use them to help answer genealogical questions which cannot be answered by documentary evidence alone. It will also appeal to those with some experience in the field because it places the practical application of genetic genealogy within a wider context, highlighting its role as a genealogical tool and suggesting how it can be made more effective.

This book is designed to help you research, date and contextualise your family photographs.

Tracing Your Ancestors Lives is not a comprehensive study of social history but instead an exploration of the various aspects of social history of particular interest to the family historian. It has been written to help researchers to go beyond the names, dates and places in their pedigree back to the time when their ancestors lived. Through the research advice, resources and case studies in the book, researchers can learn about their ancestors, their families and the society they lived in and record their stories for generations to come. Each chapter highlights an important general area of study. Topics covered include the family and society; domestic life; birth life and death; work, wages and economy; community, religion and government. Barbara J. Starmanss handbook encourages family historians to immerse themselves more deeply in their ancestors time and place. Her work will give researchers a fascinating insight into what their ancestors lives were like.

The recent past is so often neglected when people research their family history, yet it can be one of the most rewarding periods to explore, and so much fascinating evidence is available. The rush of events over the last century and the rapid changes that have taken place in every aspect of life have been dramatic, and the lives of family members of only a generation or two ago may already appear remote. That is why Karen Balis informative and accessible guide to investigating your immediate ancestors is essential reading, and a handy reference for anyone who is trying to trace them or discover the background to their lives. In a sequence of concise, fact-filled chapters she looks back over the key events of the twentieth century and identifies the sources that can give researchers an insight into the personal stories of individuals who lived through it. She explains census and civil records, particularly those of the early twentieth century, and advises readers on the best way to get relevant information from directories and registers as well as wills and other personal documents. Chapters also cover newspapers which often provide personal details and offer a vivid impression of the world of the time professional and property records and records of migration and naturalization. This practical handbook is rounded off with sections on tracing living relatives and likely future developments in the field.